The present invention relates generally to adjustable conveying systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to an expanding conveyor system used to direct rolls of material from a material supplying system into a stamping die positioned within a press machine for the forming of parts from the roll of material.
The current improvement to a conveying apparatus enhances the delivery of material from the material feed system, which is used to feed rolls of material, into an opening of a die, wherein the die is positioned within a press and is used to produce product from the roll of material.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conveying systems have existed for many years. However, most of these conventional conveying systems are for handling individual elements, such as packages, and transporting those individual elements from one location to the next. Alternately, these conventional conveying systems are not designed to maintain the elements or materials supplied in a flat nature. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,139,089, 5,044,490, 5,813,513, 6,186,318, and 6,516,942 all disclose such conventional conveying devices.
Additionally, these conventional conveying devices normally lack the ability to vertically vary the location at which the elements transported on the conveying systems are supplied. Also, these conventional conveying systems are not easily horizontally adjustable to accommodate the variances and distances between the material feed system and the dies positioned in the metal presses. This distance can vary greatly depending on the specific material feed system used, the metal stamping machine used, and the size and configuration of the die used to process the material. Additionally, depending on the size of the die used to process the material, the material supplied to that die will need to vary in height. As a result, a conveying apparatus used to supply the material will need to have both vertically and horizontally variable ranges from which the material feeds into the die.
As such, what is lacking in the art is a conveying apparatus that can horizontally and vertically vary its support for an elongated strip of material as that material is fed from a material feed system into a die positioned in a mechanical press.